Thank you, MrFoo and baichi, for those useful replies.An older version of the OED advises, 'none has been used for around a thousand years with both a singular and plural verb, depending on the context and the emphasis needed.'If this passage emphasises that 'not one of the policeman is...', then I can see how the 'is' makes sense (this case is more emphatic, pointing out as it does the absence of all exceptions). 'Are' would fit in 'none of the policemen are...' It is quite an interesting answer, then - and in fairness, s/he's not called GrammarThinker.

baichi, nameless, and EcoThinker:According to dictionary.com, in American English usage, none should be plural in this context (see "4" at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/none).According to the Oxford English Dictionary:"Many commentators state that none should take singular concord, but this has generally been less common than plural concord, especially between the 17th and 19th centuries."The Cambridge dictionary (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=54027&dict=CALD) allows for either plural or singular usage: "None of my children has/have blonde hair."

Regarding the grammar question. I hope I can clarify this issue for you without being as condescending as EcoThinker. You questioned the use of "is" in this sentence: "The police officers who patrol it may be of any race, but none is poor and nearly all live in nicer neighbourhoods."

While I'm certainly no grammar expert, I was an English teacher in the past and I feel qualified to answer this question. The Economist is indeed correct in its usage of "is". You incorrectly identified the subject as police officers. The subject of the clause (not the sentence)"but none is poor" is "none."

None means not one and requires a third person singular verb form. Therefore, we should say none is rather than none are. While in spoken English it sounds pedantic to say none is, it is nevertheless correct. I hope this helps to answer your question.

As a Baltimore resident I find this article laughable. Dixon and the Commish are committing the cardinal error of Baltimore politics: claiming responsibility for a drop in crime. When it goes up again (and it will), Sheila will get the hook from the voters and Fred will fall on the new mayor's sword. It happens like clockwork.Why am I so confident that the murder rate will rise? Because it has nothing to do with policing. Dips and rises are a result of the exigencies of the prohibited drug trade, which would result in no violence at all if it were legal. There were 22 murders in Baltimore in March of this year. Interesting how the statistic the article cites does incorporate March.The last paragraph is a whitewash. "Derelict blocks"? People lived in those homes. The ghetto is not shrinking. My alma mater Johns Hopkins, and the City of Baltimore, are simply displacing it. The new biotech park will be good for the city's tax base, it may even be good for the residents... those who are lucky enough not to be forced out of their homes because someone else wants to make money. They were paid fair market value, but how would you like the man to come to your door with a bag of money in one hand and a gun in the other and force you from your home.This article is ignorance incarnate.

I must say that the sentence, "You might think this an impractical fashion for someone who often needs to run away from the police," is among the funniest that I have ever read in The Economist. As a New Yorker, I have often wondered this same thing myself.

The glib answer provided by ecothinker to my pressing problem below is unconvincing. The subject is 'police officers', in the plural, which therefore merits an 'are'. Can it be that The Economist has made a grammatical error?

I agree with "idea-lism" that "The Wire" does serve a purpose and from what limited experience I have of the neighbourhoods in question I can imagine it must indeed be hellish for many of the residents in a way that sweet Suburbians may not fully appreciate. Not only that but the CD soundtrack's smashing.

So, when the police target serial/dangerous criminals the crime rate goes down, quickly and substantially. Likewise, when the law is universally imposed, rather than selectively used, areas improve. The logic is not difficult. Poverty does not cause crime, but rather a failure to impose impartial laws passed to protect all and not the few. The greatest beneficiaries of this are the poorest and those least able to defend themselves. "Human rights" campaigners should take note.

The article and The Wire also have an aspect to them that is fear mongering. As long as we keep people afraid of the inner city, the %u201CAmerican Lifestyle%u201D will prevail. By that I mean suburban, car focused, energy intensive, hugely wasteful, and most of all, bland. Few cities in North America have %u201Cinner cities%u201D that have survived suburbanization. The media rarely publish crime statistics per 100,000 people. And also refer to the %u201Cinner city%u201D, instead of the specific neighbourhood. As noted in the article, a city%u2019s crime is usually confined to specific areas. Cities are glorious places to embrace life in a vibrant, interesting, and culturally fulfilling way. And, in the case of Toronto, have low crime rates, when considered on a per 100,000 basis.

Would this article have been written let alone published were it not for the wire? Baltimore has for the years 2007 and 2006 failed to crack the top 10 for most violent cities in America. I do not see what qualified this story as newsworthy.

This has nothing to do with the point of this very interesting article. I'd just like to know if there's a reason (no doubt an obscure and intriguing one) for the use of 'is' instead of 'are' in the following sentence:"The police officers who patrol it may be of any race, but none is poor and nearly all live in nicer neighbourhoods."

While "The Wire" may present a skewed image of Baltimore, it does so with a purpose. For most Americans, and indeed for an even larger percentage of international citizens, the inner-city ghetto is an unknown."The Wire", while a fictional program, is a non-Hollywood depiction of the crime and corruption in an American city. Created and produced by a Baltimore homicide detective (and a Baltimore political journalist), it reeks of authenticity.It's also well entertaining. I highly recommend.